Geez. Even back in the dark ages when I was a kid in San Diego, mass-market spaghetti sauce (with meat bits) was available in a can.
These horrific recipes remind me of the “teriyaki” marinade I saw on one site - made with mayonnaise. 
Just got off the phone with my mom… 45 minutes of mostly her monologue. Which is why I don’t often call her. But she’s doing OK, my sister is doing OK and spring is starting to spring way up there, too. No update from FCD on his mom, so Higgs and I are having quiet time.
I did fire up the pellet stove out in the shop. Otherwise it’s electric heat and the bill has been obscene of late. The lowest we can set the thermostat is 50°, but we can’t let it freeze out there. I’m hoping to get it to 70° to save a few hours of heating bills.
That’s all. Off to check the shop.
Mayonnaise is a Japanese ingredient, since the 1920s. I just made some sesame dressing Sunday. But as a marinade? Never heard of it.
It has since been removed from the recipe site, but yeah, I believe the recipe was soy sauce and mayo. Maybe some garlic powder? Can’t recall - I mostly blocked it out.
ETA -
Just heard from FCD. MIL has bad heart valves. The will not discharge her to her apartment - she has to go to rehab or come here. I don’t know if they can’t do surgery or if she refuses it. Waiting to hear back.
Howdy Y’all! I just have to share this. There is a knockoff brand of fish sticks called Crack Sticks. Can you imagine little Timmy goin’ to school one mornin’ and tellin’ his teacher his mommy made him crack sticks for dinner?
ah, that is tough news. with her condition doing surgery is very risky.
it is a difficult time, and i hope you can find the best solution for all 3 of you, and be at peace with it.
It didn’t need pulled! Apparently it can be sensitive sometimes. It was never crowned, it just had a enamel piece put on top of it as my tooth was worn down lower than the others. If they’d left it low, I would never have to bite down on it. Its almost 50 today so I am happy, temporarily. Now to try and get extra vitamin D to counteract the hair loss and breakage that came with being without the vitamin for a week.
And outside of breaking fast it has been a morning of sloth and internettin’ (and some slothful internettin’). Changed over from the Instant Breakfast (Carnation Breakfast Essentials) I’ve been drinking to Cereal for a change (Cheerios today) and we’ll see how that goes. Did get my last tax info so need to go buy this year’s Turbo Tax (either at Staples or On-line) and get that out of the way. Heading off to the gym here in a little bit and do some pedaling, but nothing much else on the agenda for the day. already 59F and heading to 65F, so not a bad day at all.
Coppertone, glad the tooth didn’t have to be yanked, did they give you anything for the discomfort or some corrective action? Good luck with the hair.
FCM, given her age and frailty, probably any surgery would be the end of her, so the Drs. may have decided to let nature take it’s course. Sad.
OK, I will do something active now…maybe. Take care.
Happy Tuesday, all!
I’m trying to be more open-minded about how people make Italian food, but that’s simply criminal and should be punished by 30 days in the clink (more when they realize even prison food is better than theirs and trip a guard to get a longer sentence) and 100 hours of community service at the Sons of Italy hall.
Sadly, that’s not the case. The last time I took a cab, the driver’s mood was chemically enhanced. All his comments were random, and there were no segues. He dropped me off half a block from the hotel because it was on a hill (like half of Seattle), and he was afraid the cab would plunge into the Sound. We were three blocks and two stoplights from the waterfront. I was just glad to get out of that cab.
I’ve used Uber many dozens of times and have only had two bad experiences. One driver told me I had to go to him because he was blocked in. I couldn’t find him, and I had people helping me, plus I couldn’t figure out how he planned to drive me if he was blocked in. And I had a surly guy whose rear and side windows were covered with plastic and duct tape. Instead of dropping me at the Amtrak station, he dumped me at the Tacoma train yards. The neighborhood was pretty sketch, plus I couldn’t see and had no idea where the station was. I reported both. But all the other drivers were friendly, prompt, and had clean vehicles. I’ve had great conversations and learned a lot. Oh, and fares are generally cheaper than taxis. Of course, I’ve never taken either at 3 a.m.
I guess it depends on where you were in those big cities and their suburbs. Every store we went to had ricotta, even the chains. I barely remember 1960, but I do recall 1961 and later. We bought ricotta often. My favorite childhood lunch was salami, ricotta sprinkled with salt, and a hunk of Italian bread. Yum.
How great that you’re in such close contact! I do get texts and photos, mostly of dogs (son) and cats or chickens (daughter). In my family, the tradition was when you went away to college, you called on Sundays, and we kids kept up that tradition with our own kids, so it’s an ingrained habit. My sister’s stepson was the exception. He’d say, “If you don’t get a call from highway patrol, I’m fine.” 
Yet another reason I like you.
True! Of course, if what you have on hand is Spaghetti-O’s, anything you make would be comically bad, including plain Spaghetti-O’s.
If I ever get to Scotland, I want to try rumbledethumps.
But it’s only authentic if you make it from scratch! 
You ought to get her the Echo Dot Silver for Seniors. It has an “uh-huh” feature for long stories.
So sorry to hear about your MIL. I suspect her advanced age means no surgery. I’m guessing FCD would prefer her staying with you over rehab.
Coppertone, glad the tooth is OK and no extraction!
They should be served pasta without sauce! Only olive oil and garlic. And maybe some parmesan cheese. Oh, wait a minute. That’s really good.
No. Spaghetti with ketchup and hot dog slices. Heard that one on a sitcom. Ugh.
This absolutely made my day…thank you! Indeed, he would hold on to the door, if not to sleep on, also on the off chance it’s useful later.
Husband unit and I still haven’t discussed the elephant in the room but we chatted about this and that last night. Which was nice. I’m at the office now and goofing off between meetings.
I never realized how many one on ones I have until I had to try doing them in public for lack of an office or conference rooms. I wind up talking really low when we get to private things only to have the other person yell, “Huh? What?!” Oh, well. I’ve managed not to bellow everyone’s business throughout the office so far. Hoping that can continue. I might just need to reschedule all my one on ones to the same day when I know I always work at home.
That is outrageous. You have my contact info. Do not hesitate to call me if you are stranded again. I will gladly come and get you and make sure you get home ok.
Thanks peeps. Its sensitive if I accidentally bite down on it but guess thats normal. She tapped it with a tiny mallet and asked if it hurt. Nope.
Taking extra of my vitamin d’s. Instead of 2 000, I’m taking 4.000. It will take all year for the front of my hair to get back to where it was. I sad.
He was worried about you! How dare you stay out that late without asking permission!!!
Our housekeeper claims to like my not healthy food, so I had a slice of lasagna in a container to give her this morning. She exclaimed over it, thanked me then gave us her notice, LOL!!!
Hasn’t this been going on with one neighbor for a while? How long until they just stop dealing with his bins at all?
Ain’t nobody who knows how I eat doubting where my supersized butt came from!
We have built sheds using that criteria. Same with the catio.
I’m going to argue this with you a bit. I was raised in a small town and remember much more variety regarding meats and produce. I’ve eaten farm raised rabbit as well as commercially produced rattlesnake meat. Mom used to bring home frogs legs (ewwwwww!) every so often.
We had ricotta, feta, bleu cheese and real American cheese on a regular basis and there was a large ethnic section that carried Asian food ingredients that I’ve not seen since I lived in Hawaii.
Never think that I’m saving money by making my own cheese!
So, plan B will be to check into the hotel then find a grocery store and stock up with snacks, samwich and salad stuff so we don’t have to leave the hotel again until the 9th. If we don’t have room to bring folding chairs, we can buy them when we are out shopping.
shoe can we buy booze at the grocery store or will we have to find somewhere different for that?
I am so sorry. I wish all of you the very best.
BBB, I sure do hope you made it home safely, what a terrible person to just leave you like that.
Some grocery stores carry beer and wine, but for the harder stuff you have to find a dedicated stand alone liquor store. Which will close at 9 pm sharp and be closed on Sundays.
IIRC what you can get at the grocery store is shut off at midnight, and also a no-no on Sundays. (Or maybe only after noon on Sunday?)
Anyway, plan accordingly.
Some counties are “dry” and sell zero hooch of any kind. Many of the 'burbs are like that, although a few got jealous of the sweet, easy tax revenue and caved.
I believe Dallas county is not dry.
Oh, and the bars close at 2 a.m. on the dot, so it is inadvisable to be on the road between about 1:45 and 2:30 a.m.
Or in line at Taco Bell or Jack In The Box, cuz there’s gonna be a wait, although you may get some live entertainment meanwhile.
(It’s not really all that gritty. Mostly. Some 'hoods are sketch A.F. but then the next block over will be 2M+ McMansions.)
Good morning…er, afternoon!
It’s a gorgeous day here in Albuquerque - sunny with a few high clouds and rapidly heading towards a high of 65 F. In February! I hate it, but I’m planning to hook up the outside water and soak everything preparatory to our inevitable early March freeze. I’ve spent about 45 minutes in the yard this morning (er, afternoon), but the problem with taking a cat out in the yard vs. a dog is that you can’t just let them run around and it’s hard to get anything done with a cat deciding to drag you to random piles of leaves to check for bugs every few minutes.
My daughter and I set up the new bed yesterday and the charity came to pick up the old one. The woman on the phone assured me they would get it downstairs for me, but predictably the guys who came hadn’t been warned. They trooped upstairs with good grace, though, and I was planning to slip them generous tips. However, one guy took a phone call just as we got upstairs. He was talking about court and a client, then went outside with the call, and I remembered that all the charity workers are volunteers. I’m really glad I didn’t try to slip a 20 to a practicing lawyer!
The new bed seems really nice. It felt squishier than I’d remembered, and I was afraid it would be too soft, but my hips and back apparently like a mattress that’s a little more plush than I’m accustomed to using.
When the social media that ideally should help you relax stresses you out instead, it’s time to take a step back. We’ll mis you, but you weren’t put on earth to entertain us!
Congratulations! I’ve never seen U2 live, but I’d love to. I’ve always heard they put on a hell of a show!
That right shoe looks a lot like Mr. L’s right before I make him get new shoes. He takes a lot more than nine months to get them that way, though. I’d suggest you might think about replacing them after maybe 250 miles!
I inevitably decide to make something with tomato sauce or blueberries on days I’m wearing light-colored clothing. At least I’ve gotten good at getting stains out.
Roxy likes to carry toys around, too. She never paid any attention to them until we got Khoshekh as a kitten, but once she saw him playing with them, she started placing them strategically in people’s shoes, on the stairs, beside (but not on) beds… Right now, I have a little stuffed boat in one of my shoes. She always makes little muffled “mrow” sounds to alert us when she’s carrying a toy.
This is one of the many reasons why I can never have chickens. At some point, I’d stop having eggs and start having superannuated pets with high vet bills.
Is your friend related to my husband? I know that at some point this afternoon I’m going to get cold and discover that he’s opened all the windows upstairs because “It’s a beautiful day!” I keep trying to get him to ask himself whether it’s as warm outside as the set point of the thermostat before he invites the outside air in.
Having said that, the only time I’ve been to Florida was Orlando in mid-May, and by 7 a.m. it was too hot to stay outside for more than a few minutes. Not a fan. Maybe your housemates are just used to getting cool air while they can.
Same here! I was just thinking that I haven’t heard my older daughter’s voice for a while, but we text just about daily. I’m oddly shy about calling her, because I figure she’s much busier than I am, so she may as well initiate the calls when she’s not in the middle of something.
I’ve heard about Dallas traffic, but the only driving I’ve done in Texas has been northern, on the way to somewhere else.
This is fantastic! Teeth are weird; I can’t count the times I’ve been surprised at the dentist one way or the other. I’m glad yours went the good way.
That’s really hard to hear, but after watching my 91-year-old FIL get a pacemaker, which led to a TIA, which led to a bigger stroke, which led to trouble swallowing, which led to a PEG feeding tube, which led to a lengthy rehab stay during which he had two bouts of pneumonia, the last of which finally killed him. Those were all his choices, but if it had been me, I’d have opted out of all of it. It was two months from when he got the pacemaker to his death, and he had two weeks at home in all of that time.
If she comes home with you, the hospital should have a discharge coordinator who can help set up some home care. Some hospitals have the habit of just assuming the family will take care of everything, but you’re extremely likely to need all the help you can get, regardless of whether she thinks she will.
I had a disturbing dream, made more so with how realistic it was. Not the “The llama was 20 feet tall but it made sense since he was wearing a monocle” realism but like I had to look on Google Maps to try and find Milford, TN.
So in my dream I was reading a news article. In the town of Milford, TN it was tradition for kids to pull an obviously fake gun on a cop and get Tootsie Rolls in return. The backstory according to the article was in 1982 (yes the article was that specific) a kid pulled a real gun on a Milford cop who had some Tootsie Rolls in his hand. Thinking quickly, the cop threw the Tootsie Rolls on the ground and the kid dropped the gun and went for the candy.
Wow Saint Cad, that is a disturbing dream. Oh no, we haven’t gotten to the disturbing part yet.
The article in my dream was about a recently hired Milford cop who was unfamiliar with the tradition. A kid pulled a fake gun on him for the candy and the cop misunderstood and shot him.
My people!!!
I saw that IRL. It wasn’t as bad as you might think…of course, I had the screaming munchies at the time so OZ pizza wouldn’t have been turned down.
Oh, I didn’t think it was, big cities are all pretty much the same. There are some skeery places, some WOWOW places and mostly blah places.
Thanks for the info, neither of us are big drinkers, but I think a nice bottle of champers would called for. The hotel has a bar if we want something stronger later on. We won’t be driving, so can take advantage of that.
Always happens, always! Peroxide is my best friend
VBC has larger toys, my profile pic has her laying next to her piggy, they won’t fit in shoes but do make it onto the bed which is pretty impressive. Back when we had drawers under our bed, she would open hub’s sock drawer and drag all of his socks to the back door on a daily basis. Kats are weird.
After our housekeeper dropped her bombshell, we went to the little mom and pop Mexican place for breakfast. I had a chili relleno and hubs had Nopales con Huevo (Prickly pear cactus and eggs) with beans and corn tortillas. Of course our main source of conversation was where to start looking for a new housekeeper.
Our housekeeper is a retired government worker who started cleaning for cruise money. She has a small three bedroom place to allow her to have a guest room and a sewing room. She was pretty happy until the world ended. Her son lost his job and couldn’t pay the rent, so son, daughter in law and two grandsons moved in with her until he could get back on his feet. Both son and DIL have decent jobs now, but they like the free child care too much to think about moving out.
Housekeeper had been talking about putting her home up for sale and a neighbor made a cash offer last week. She accepted and will be leaving the state at the end of March. She has her eye on a 700 sf one bedroom home somewhere in the Texas panhandle, she says she’s not even going to risk owning a sleeper sofa ever again.
So sad for us, but good for her. She kept telling the kids they needed to move out because she was too old to be raising tweens again and they would agree and come up with a plan and a date and nothing ever happened.
I am very glad I’ve never had a dream like that. It would probably stick with me for a very long time.
The stage is apparently set. FCD came home for a bit, then headed back, hoping to talk to MIL’s cardiologist. Her echocardiogram showed prolapsing heart valves - to the extent that very little blood is being pumped. So I guess the question is whether they can replace those valves or not.
She’ll be staying in the hospital tonight for sure. I’ve prepped our guest room for a short stay, but if it’s to be permanent, I’ll need to empty the closet and get my knitting stuff out of the corner. So we’ll see. How sad that after we fixed her apartment up, she may have to leave.
I also called my mom - she’s still got some GI bleeding and, frankly, I don’t like the stuff Kaiser Permanente is telling her. She’s got an appointment this week to discuss options, and I may go up there one day. I haven’t seen her since Christmas and she was telling me she has some things she’d like me to help with next time I visit. So maybe later this week.
Thankfully, I’ve got 4 sibs who live lots closer to her, including one living with her, so I don’t have to worry about her being alone and in trouble. But she’s 90, and no matter how good she says she feels, she’s 90.
Gee, ain’t I a freekin’ ray of sunshine… 